Airport formalities take less time with web and mobile check-ins

An air passenger travelling out of Mumbai now takes an average of 18 minutes to enter the terminal, finish check-in and clear security. This is a good 10 minutes less than what it took to complete the formalities a year ago.

An air passenger travelling out of Mumbai now takes an average of 18 minutes to enter the terminal, finish check-in and clear security. This is a good 10 minutes less than what it took to complete the formalities a year ago.

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The reduction in the transit time came to light through an audit conducted by the airport operator recently.

“The average wait time has gone down because more people are using the web or mobile devices to check-in, thus reducing congestion. Augmentation of security manpower has fastened the security checks,” said a Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) spokesperson.

The audit, conducted during peak hours, found that while the average transit time for domestic passengers was 18 minutes, people travelling abroad took an average 21.16 minutes to reach the boarding gates.

At 8.24 minutes, checking in baggage consumed the majority of a domestic passenger’s time, followed by an average time of 6.63 minutes at security holds, the report stated. It also found that fliers spent about 3.42 minutes standing in queues to enter the terminal.

The average terminal wait time experienced by fliers travelling on Air India and Kingfisher was significantly less at 13.5 minutes, as both airlines have an entire terminal (1A) to themselves. Passengers travelling on other airlines experience an average wait time of 22.8 minutes, as the other domestic terminal caters to five domestic carriers.

“These days, I have ample time to drop by at a book store, or fine tune a Powerpoint presentation, because it barely takes time to reach the boarding gates,” said frequent flier Kaushik Sur, 37, who works with a production house in Goregaon.

MIAL staff collected the data over the past few months by selecting a random sample of up to 100 passengers a day and physically tracking the transit time taken by them.

Airport officials added that the reduction of daily flight movements (take offs and landings) from 720 to 650 over the last year has also led to reducing congestion.